Coffee

Like a parent who thinks their child can do no wrong, we’re obviously biased about our precious baby Stagg EKG. To help you sort out the facts and find a kettle that suits your needs, we’ve gathered a few articles that have either tested Stagg EKG or compared multiple electric kettles on the market. Take a read and then take your pick! Read More

An affogato is the perfect summer pick-me-up or a delicious way to impress dinner party guests with minimal effort. Usually, a traditional affogato takes the form of a scoop of vanilla gelato or ice cream drowned in a hot shot of espresso. But if you’re not the proud owner of an expensive espresso machine, how are you going to pick yourself up in the summer or make a fancy dessert for your great aunt?

Have no fear. Prismo is here! Swooping in with another one of his superpowers to save the day, our mighty AeroPress® Coffee Maker attachment is an affogato-making superstar. Well, we like to call it an “affauxgato” since Prismo technically makes espresso-style shots.

Our sales manager Jake Mix invented this recipe one afternoon in the Playground, and the team has been hooked ever since. Classic vanilla ice cream is the go-to, but our dairy-free Fellows used Ben & Jerry’s Non-Dairy Chunky Monkey from the corner store and the results were off the charts.

But enough chit-chat, time to check out the how-to for Jake’s famous Prismo “Affauxgato” recipe!

1. Dose out 20 grams of whole bean coffee. If you happen to own a Stagg Pour-Over Dripper, you can also load the beans to the “single dot” measurement inside of its ratio aid instead. No scale required!2. Heat water in your pour-over kettle to 212°F and grind beans on a very fine setting. We did ours at 1.5 on the EK43.

3. Twist Prismo onto the bottom of your AeroPress® Coffee Maker and dump in the grinds.

4. Add 50 grams of the 212°F water into your AeroPress® Coffee Maker and stir vigorously for 15 seconds. Let sit for one minute.5. During the one minute brew time, add one heaping scoop of vanilla ice cream to your cup or mug.

7. After one minute of brew time, plunge the AeroPress® Coffee Maker over the ice cream.8. And enjoy!

Do you have any go-to Prismo recipes? Send us a message via Instagram or Twitter. We love seeing your Prismo creations!

Wade Preston of Prevail Coffee Roasterswalked away with the first place prize at this year’s New Orleans Brewers Cup Qualifier. He went on to compete at the 2018 US Brewers Cup Championships in April. Here’s the kicker…he used Prismo as his coffee brewing apparatus of choice. This is the first time Prismo has been used in competition, and we couldn’t be more excited that our little AeroPress® Coffee Maker attachment is making waves on a national stage.

Wade shared his winning Prismo recipe with the Fellow team a few weeks ago, and we’ve tested it out in the Playground many times since. What’s our verdict? Yeah, it’s really stinking good!

Give it a try for yourself and let us know what you think!

WADE’S PRISMO RECIPE

Place an AeroPress® Coffee Maker paper filter on top of the Prismo metal filter.
Grind 18 grams of coffee very coarse. Bottoming out an EK grinder with stock burr spacing is probably about right.

Sift grinds with a 600 micron screen like the Kruve.

Load your grinds into the AeroPress® Coffee Maker.

Pour a 50 gram pre-infusion with 145°F water. (Yes, you read that right!)

Stir gently to ensure all grinds are saturated.

Let pre-infusion immerse for 3 minutes. (Yep, three minutes as in 180 seconds!)

Fill to 205 grams with 208°F water.

Stir 5 revolutions with AeroPress® Coffee Maker paddle.

Let immerse for 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

Stir 5 revolutions and plunge, steadily for 30 seconds until you hear the vacuum seal break.

It will create a cup that will need to “settle.” If you taste it right away, it’ll be good, but the body won’t be there. After it has set for about 1-2 minutes, the body will ramp up. At about 130°F, it is a huge, creamy, and almost chewy. The cup will also be crazy sweet.

WADE’S THEORYAt the particle level of coffee extraction there are two types of solubles: surface solubles and inner cell solubles. Surface solubles extract very easily. They also give coffee its sweetness. Think of how sweet and syrupy cold brew is…that’s because it is pretty much 100% surface erosion extraction. Heat and turbulence are required for inner cell extraction which creates coffee’s complexity (bitterness, acidity, etc). The idea with the above recipe is that you can isolate the surface erosion extraction by doing the low temp pre-infusion. This will delicately extract the surface solubles. Then, you can safely extract the inner cell solubles without fear of over-extracting the surface solubles. That’s the gist of it anyways!

Prismo is a pressure actuated valve designed to be used with the AeroPress® Coffee Maker. This attachment allows for a buildup of pressure to create espresso-style coffee and creates a no-drip seal for a full immersion brew. The reusable 70-micron etched filter stops sludge in its tracks and eliminates the need for paper filters. The valve’s small aperture also fits directly over an espresso shot glass.

We all feel it. The days are getting longer, sleeves are getting shorter, and before we know it, dreams of summer travels have begun to materialize in our minds…

Hey, we’re right there with you! And to satiate our wanderlust we at Fellow have deemed May’s store theme: Bon Voyage! All this month you can visit us and enjoy a selection of coffees from roasters located in some of our favorite summer travel destinations. Come in and get swept away with brews from:

“An open sky awaits us after a few hours going through a cloudy forest… Nuyuku is where Cecilio’s lot is. He named his lot “At the foot of the mountain” in mixteco. Cecilio and Ines, who are proud to be from the Misty Mountains region, produce coffee of exceptional quality. Year after year we work together to apply more sustainability in the production of coffee and to create resilient crops.We have made achievements in coffee processing and drying, in soil nutrition and implemented organic fertilization. Cecilio is also producing corn right next to a garden that we planted two years ago, another step towards producing self-sustaining crops.” – Buna (@bunamx)

“Plum, citrus and caramelized sugar drive the unique flavor we love from Gaturiri. Coffee has been cultivated in the Nyeri district since 1958. Today, as many as 1200 farmers contribute their ripe coffee cherry to the Gaturiri Factory for processing. Part of the Barichu Cooperative Society in Central Kenya, the society has four washing stations: Karatina, Gatomboya, Karindundu and Gaturiri. Mary, the cooperative’s full-time agronomist, uses a designated block of 1,500 plants for group training sessions with participating farmers. ” – Parlor Coffee Roasters (@parlorcoffee)

Flight Time: 9 hours and 15 minutes from FellowFun Fact: Sakao dominates the Tokyo coffee scene, operating four beautiful cafes. “Onibus” is actually Portuguese for “Public Bus.” which is to say it is for everyone.

“Nyarusiza Washing Station, which is run by Buf Coffee, produces high-quality coffee. It also works on improving treatment of workers and donates its income to medical, educational, and social infrastructure.” – Onibus Coffee (@onibuscoffee)

“Located in southern Ethiopia, the highlands of the Sidamo region are home to the plots of this Ethiopian crop grown under permanent, protective shade. The volcanic lands of the African rift give it its special character. Lively and fruity, this coffee has a beautiful freshness and an exceptional aromatic persistence!” – L’Alchimiste (@lachimiste_torrefacteur)

“Sitio Sertãozinho is managed by Paulo Ribeiro Rocha, his daughters and sons-in-law. Working with specialty coffee has given his family a better life! The farm is located near the city Cristina, in the south of Minas Gerais, in Serra da Mantiqueira region. With mountainous topography, and has a differentiated climate and soils favorable for producing specialty coffee.This farm was acquired with an inheritance from Rocha’s parents, and he began coffee cultivation 40 years ago – from the start he focused on quality coffee. He is dedicated to growing coffee sustainably, preserving the environment and are members of the ASCARIVE Fair Trade Association. Rocho and his family are passionate about preserving springs and native forests on the farm, which shelter large plant species and native animals.” – Proud Mary Coffee Roasters (@proudmarycoffee)

Our favorite week of the year has come and gone, and all we’re left with is sweet, sweet memories and caffeine withdrawal after consuming 20 cups a day for three days straight. The Specialty Coffee Expo, or SCA for short, was held in Seattle again this year and the entire Fellow squad made the trip. Our highlights outside of the convention hall include a team banana relay race around a high school track, an insane dinner spread cooked by our friends from Fellow Taiwan, and hula hoops mixed with inflatable unicorns at the La Marzocco party.

Our highlights inside the convention hall could be a never-ending list, but we managed to narrow it down to our three favorites! Read More

Want to brew like the best of them? Break out your pour-over gear and follow along as Dylan Siemens of Onyx Coffee Lab and the 2017 US Brewers Cup Champion, walks you step-by-step through his techniques and pour-over recipe for one.

After a couple of months of frustration, we finally had a great week:) All Kickstarter and website pre-order Stagg EKG+ units were successfully assembled and tested. Each and every unit produced was connected to BlueTooth and each unit was brought to a boil to confirm functionality. In addition, we hired an independent third party testing agency to randomly sample a subset of units and the agency provided our team with a pre-shipment inspection report. Everything is looking good.

What’s next?

Yesterday the Stagg EKG+ units were loaded into a 40′ sea container at our factory and the container was transported via semi-truck to the loading area for the shipping container. The ship was set to sail on February 11th with an estimated arrival date of March 9th at the Port of Oakland. We can’t tell you how relieved we are to get these units our before Chinese New Year. Our factory shuts down today and won’t be operational again until early March!

Once the units arrive in Oakland we’ll schedule a pick-up and deliver to our warehouse in Oakland, California. Typically, we are able to pick-up a container a couple days after arrival. As soon as we get the units into our warehouse we’ll start the shipping process out to you! We’ve already purchased shipping boxes and supplies in advance. So, this means the first packages will be shipped out the week of March 12th (or 1-2 days after we are able to pull the container). Obviously things can happen that would delay this date (i.e., customs flagging the container for inspection), but we’re optimistic we can stick to this schedule.

All of use here can’t wait to deliver Stagg EKG+ to all of you — our backers and early supporters. Thank you for patiently waiting…. we’re confident the wait will be worth it!

The Fellow Playground is your space to play – to brew a cup, share a tip, take a class, or just talk shop. Each month we select five coffees from roasters we are excited about to feature in our store.

February is the month of love, and boy do we love our new coffee line-up. California, Missouri, New York, and Arizona roasters are represented along with our first ever international roaster…oh hey Canada!

Ready to geek out on coffee?! Brew yourself a cup and get lost in the delicious jargon below

Bay Area folks – If you’re looking for a fun date on Valentine’s Day, bring your favorite honey into the Fellow Playground for our Brew For Two Day! Buy one of our 22-gram test tubes of the beans below and get a second free.

“Often the unsung heroes in the coffee supply chain, women play an integral part in all that goes into cultivating, harvesting, and processing coffee but often see little recognition for their work. As such, we’re excited to highlight this exceptional micro-lot from Flora Ramos from an equally exceptional Guatemalan micro-region, Huehuetenango. In Huehuetenango, where the tail-end of the great American Cordillera spills over from Mexico (where it’s referred to as the Sierra Madre de Chiapas), Huehuetenango is the only Guatemalan growing area characterized not by volcanic soil, but clay-loam soil.

Thanks to dry, hot winds that blow across the border from Mexico’s Tehuantepec plain, Huehuetenango can produce coffee as high as 2,200 MASL with no threat of frost, like in other Guatemalan growing regions. Flora carefully picks coffee cherries at a precise 22.5 – 23 brix to ensure maximum ripeness before mechanically de-pulping, fermenting for 40 hours and drying on patios for 25 days.” – Verve Coffee Roasters (@vervecoffee)

Fun Fact: Their name derives from a quote in East of Eden by John Steinbeck: “Timshel—‘Thou mayest’— that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open. That throws it right back on a man. For if ‘Thou mayest’—it is also true that ‘Thou mayest not.’”

“Surrounded by sweetgum forests and a sheltering mountain range that form a perfect climactic bubble, Guama Danta has an ideal, mild coffee growing climate. Farmers have been taking advantage of these conditions for the last four generations, consistently producing high-quality coffees. Surrounded by forests and reaching altitudes of 1,700 meters ASL, Guama Danta has all of the necessary conditions for growing high-quality coffees. The wet and dry seasons are well defined, ensuring proper flowering and fruit development ahead of the January harvest. Many producers have small coffee farms of 1.5 hectares or less at altitudes between 1,500 and 1,700 meters ASL. The region’s loamy soils are planted primarily with the leaf rust-resistant variety Lempira. Guama and fruit trees provide shade for the coffee, as well as refuge for local wildlife. Many local farmers also maintain small orchards within their farms to produce fruits for their own consumption.” – Thou Mayest Coffee Roasters (@thou_mayest)

“Windrush is a medium-sized Estate (400 acres of coffee) on the very high and steep slopes of Kiambu County. The estate is famed for its exceptional tea and coffee growing. In fact, it is the only estate remaining in Kenya that exclusively farms the most traditional of Kenyan varietals: SL28. Altitudes reach well over 2200 masl where the tea grows, and coffee production averages an altitude of 1750masl. The Windrush/Yara Estates are among the oldest remaining estates in Kenya. In 1971 ownership was transferred from the original White Kenyan owners to Indigenous peoples, in line with land reforms across the country from the 1950s. The estates are now managed by locals trading as the Gatatha Farmers Co. Ltd.

Windrush itself is quite distinct in the Kenyan landscape – colder and wetter with lush riverine valleys, plenty of dams and ancient fig trees – and as such a healthier more drought resistant ecosystem. Great farm management practices include digging soil pits to retain rainwater and prevent erosion and planting bluegrass as ground cover for the same reason. Processing is traditional, cherries go through a disc depulper, parchment coffee is fermented in traditional concrete tanks before washing and overnight soaking.The clean coffee is then moved to skin drying beds overnight before raised-bed sun drying for a nice seven days.” – Sey Coffee (@seycoffee)

“Finca Santa Teresa is blessed with rich black volcanic soil, a high altitude location, and favorable weather patterns associated with both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans; this results in coffees of singular quality. The Finca is located along a series of beautiful valleys and ridges which create a variety of micro-climates and give individuality to each of their lots. The Finca is located at 1400-1800m and the coffee planting is interspaced by live barriers, streams, and broad sections of virgin forest. Squirrel monkeys and many of the 600 species of birds in the area are often seen in and around the Finca. Adjacent to the farm is the La Amistad International Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site jointly managed by Panama and neighboring Costa Rica. FST operates a best practice approach to all of its activities.” – Presta Coffee Roasters (@prestacoffee)

“This is a new, 240-hectare farm (established in 2012) with the aim of producing top quality coffee in a socially and environmentally responsible manner. Historically, Guji coffees have been exported as coming from Sidamo, but after many years of lobbying the Ethiopian government for a geographical distinction, it is now possible to separate it. While the cup profile is quite similar to Sidamo coffees, there’s certainly something more in the terroir of Guji – no doubt due in part to the soaring altitude coupled with a nice diverse mix of heirloom Typica varieties.” – 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters (@49th)